Supreme Victory: Trump Triumphs as US High Court Clears Colorado Ballot Dispute
On Monday, the US Supreme Court delivered a significant triumph to Donald Trump in his bid to reclaim the presidency.
The Court ruled against states disqualifying candidates for federal office based on a constitutional provision related to insurrection.
This decision overturned a previous judicial ruling that had prevented Trump from appearing on Colorado’s ballot.
All judges unanimously overturned a ruling made on December 19 by Colorado’s highest court, which had disqualified Trump from participating in the state’s Republican primary ballot. They determined that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution barred him from seeking public office again.
The court in Colorado determined that Trump was involved in an insurrection by instigating and backing the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, carried out by his supporters.
Trump is currently leading the race for the Republican nomination to compete against Democratic President Joe Biden in the upcoming November 5 US election. His sole remaining contender for the nomination within his party is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
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The decision was made just before Super Tuesday, which is the day in the US presidential primary schedule when most states conduct party nominating contests.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!,” Trump wrote on his social media platform immediately after the ruling.
The 14th Amendment’s Section 3 bars from office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 concerning federal offices, especially the presidency,” the unsigned opinion for the court stated.
The judges determined that solely Congress possesses the authority to uphold the regulation concerning federal officeholders and candidates.
‘Momentous and difficult issues’
Despite all the justices concurring on the outcome, the court’s trio of liberal judges, along with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, expressed that the court’s decision addressed matters beyond what was essential to settle the case.
“We cannot join an opinion that decides momentous and difficult issues unnecessarily, and we, therefore, concur only in the judgment,” liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote.
“In my judgment, this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency. The court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the court should turn the national temperature down, not up,” Barrett wrote.
“For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity: All nine Justices agree on the outcome of this case. That is the message Americans should take home,” Barrett added.
Trump’s inclusion on the ballot in Maine and Illinois was blocked due to the 14th Amendment, but those rulings were temporarily suspended awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on the Colorado case.
The Colorado ballot dispute was swiftly resolved by the Supreme Court, highlighting a notable difference compared to its slower handling of Trump’s attempt to seek immunity from criminal prosecution in a federal case related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump’s trial has been paused pending the Supreme Court’s decision, providing him with an advantage as he continues his campaign against Biden.
Speed up resolution
In the Colorado conflict, the judges decided to address the case only two days after Trump lodged his appeal, rapidly scheduled hearings, and delivered the written judgment in just over two months.
In December, the justices in the immunity case rejected a request to accelerate the resolution until a lower court had made a decision. However, last week, they decided to address the issue after the lower courts had already ruled, scheduling arguments for late April, thereby extending the timeline significantly.
A coalition of six voters from Colorado, comprising four Republicans and two independents, took legal action to contest Trump’s qualifications. They depicted him as a peril to American democracy and aimed to hold him responsible for the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, orchestrated by his followers.
The plaintiffs received support from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a progressive monitoring organization.
As legal challenges aiming to invalidate Trump’s candidacy emerged nationwide, his campaign needed to overcome any obstacles to secure a spot on the ballot in every state.
The current conservative majority of the Supreme Court, with a 6-3 split, comprises three justices appointed by former President Trump. Since the pivotal Bush v. Gore case, which determined the outcome of the contentious 2000 US presidential election in favor of Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, the court hasn’t wielded such significant influence in a presidential election.
CAPITOL ATTACK
To hinder Congress from certifying Biden’s win in the 2020 election, Trump’s followers assaulted law enforcement, breached barricades, and swarmed the Capitol. Before the violence, Trump delivered an inflammatory speech to his supporters, reiterating his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and instructing them to go to the Capitol and “fight vigorously.” Despite pleas for intervention, he resisted for hours in urging the mob to cease their actions.
The 14th Amendment was approved following the Civil War of 1861-1865, during which Southern states that permitted slavery seceded and rebelled against the US government.
In ruling against Trump, Colorado’s top court cited the “general atmosphere of political violence that President Trump created” and that he aided “the insurrectionists’ common unlawful purpose of preventing the peaceful transfer of power in this country.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments on February 8. Trump’s lawyer argued that he is not subject to the disqualification language because a president is not an “officer of the United States,” that the provision cannot be enforced by courts absent congressional legislation, and that what occurred on January 6 was shameful, criminal and violent but not an insurrection.
Supreme Victory: Trump Triumphs as US High Court Clears Colorado Ballot Dispute